iATtli. \J(m. IS7(^. 





Book J\ill 



7t 



im m HAEBOE BILL MD THE BEAB-LOGL 



SPEECHES 



OP 

oatofs lortoo, Stiefinao, and Boutwe 

July IS, lO, tiJicl S*2, IJjST'O. 




Tbe Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, hav- 
ng under aoBSideraiion the bill (II. R. No. 3'j22) 
saakingr appropriations for the construction, re- 
pair, and completion of certain works on the rivers 
4iQd Larbors — 

Mr. Morton said : 

Mr. President : I shall detain the Sen- 
ate but a few minutes. I think it is proper 
to make some answer to what has been 
said by the Senator from North Carolina. 
My friend is undoubtedly sincere in what 
ho hns said to-day. Ho believes it all, and 
hence I shall not call in question his mo- 
tive for any declaration. It is sometimes 
said that figures cannot lie ; but we know 
that they can be placed so that they lie 
prodigiously. The figures which have been 
put into the hands of my friend from North 
Carolina — I know not by whom — do lie 
prodigiously ; they come nowhere near the 
truth. I will ask my friend to let me see 
that statement about the defalcations in 
Johnson's administration in regard to 
whisky. It is very interesting. 

The Senator was asked this question in 
the course of his remarks : What good 
thing has been done of any character by 
the democratio party in the last twenty- 
five years? I will ask what good thing 
has been doce or suggested by that party 
in twenty-five years? I should like for 
any Senator on this floor to name it. I 
will give him the floor to name it. 

Mr. Sattlsbury. I vrill tell the Senator. 
I say to him that the democratic House of 
Representatives at the present session 
have investigated and exposed the corrup- 
tions which have been practiced under the 
Administration which he supports ; and 
that the various committees of that body 
have brought to light not only a degree of 
oztravagance and of loose administration, 



but a degree of corruption that has aston- 
ished this whole country. That is a nobl* 
service which has been rendered by the 
democratic party at the present session. 

Mr. Morton. We know that the dem- 
ocratic party has assumed the role of the 
detective. How much it has discovered 
will appear more fully when we get the 
evidence. But that is dodging the ques- 
tion. The Senator has mentioned certain 
investigations during this S(?ssion which I 
think up to this time have merited chiefly 
and received the contempt of the country, 
I repeat the question. What good thing 
has been done or suggested by the demo- 
cratic party in the last twenty-five years ? 
I see my friend from Connecticut, [Mr. 
Eaton,] who has an excellent memory. If 
there was one good thing in the history of 
his party for twenty-five years he would 
not hesitate to name it. 

Mr. Eaton. And he will name it before 
we get through with this discussion. 

Mr. Morton. When I look back I re- 
member the fugitive-slave law in 1850 ; I 
remember the repeal of the Missouri com- 
promise in 1854, that breach of faith whJcb 
was the beginning of the war ; I i-eraem- 
ber the border-rufiian outrages in 1855 and 
1856 ; I remember the Lecorapton consti- 
tution and the Dred Scott decision in 1857 ; 
I remember the democratic party in 186G 
saying there was no power to coerce a 
State to remain in the Union ; I remember 
its opposition to every war measure ; I re- 
member its meeting at Chicago in 1864, 
during the last great struggle, when every 
honest man knew that the rebellion was 
doomed unless it was saved from the 
North, and their declaring to the world, 
Mr. Tilden himself being on the commit- 
tee, that the w»t was a failure and ought 



.Mec^^ 



;o be abaudoued. I know that in auy 
other country in the world than this, strug- 
i^lia^ wiih armed rcbcUiou, that declara- 
tion tvoiild have boon punished as high 
treason, as h deserved to be, made at that 
time and under the circumstances. I re- 
member its 0])position to the abolition ©f 
slavoiy. 1 romombcr its opposition to the 
fourieentli and fifteenth amendments. I 
remember the counsel it gave to the South 
to reject ail reconstruction. I remember 
the <jutmj,jca of the Ku-Klux and white- 
leafxucrs who received protection and en- 
oonia^'cnieut in the tents of the democratic 
pari;y. I put the question to my friend — 
dud I will give him the floor to answer — 
what good thing has his party done or even 
iuggested in twenty-five years? Contin- 
ually evil ; the blackest and the most damn- 
able record in the history of parties in this 
or any other country. 

My friend from North Carolina talked a 
great deal about the expenses of the re- 
publican party. He talked about the in- 
creased expenses of th« Government. He 
said the last four years had cost the coun- 
try more to maintain this Government and 
carry it on than during the previous his- 
tory of the Government. I do not know 
whether he is right about that or not ; but 
I will assume for the sake of argument 
that he is ; and I ask who is responsible 
for it? I answer, my friend and those 
with whom he has acted during that 
period. If we have incurred billions of ex- 
pense, if we are now oppressed by a nation- 
al debt, if we are burdened by heavy taxes, 
i tell him, he and those who acted with 
iaim have laid those burdens upon us. 
They are directly responsible ; and it re- 
quires all the face — I will not say cheek — 
it requires all the good countenance even 
of my friend to stand up and say to the re- 
publicans, " You republicans did not con- 
quer our rebellion quite as cheaply as you 
ought to have done ; you have not handled 
taxation and the i)ublic debt and the other 
consequences growing out of our treason 
as well as you ought to have done. There- 
fore we are indignant about it. You 
ought to have done this business better ; 
you ought to have whipped us at half the 
expense, and you did not. We propose to 
take the Government out of your hands 
and ourselves to settle with and deal with 
the consequences of our own crimes and 
blunders." That is the argument of my 
friend. 

Mr. Merkimon. Will the Senator let 
me say a word? 

Mr. MoiiTOK. Centainly. 

Mr. Merrijion. I do not concede what 
the Senator said. I deny it. I deny it 
substantially, perhaps not altogether in 
detail. But suppose it was true, is it not 
my duty and the duty of every good man 
to reform those acknowledged abuses ? Is 
that an'" «^arrant for the wholesale plunder 



which I have only to a very limited extent 
developed here this morning ? 

Mr. xMoRTON. .Mr. President, the Sen- 
ator docs not m.eet the point at all. He 
says, suppose it is so ; suppose that he and 
his friends are responsible for all these ^ 
things, is it not his duty to reform abuses? "^ 
Certainly it is; and it is his duty and .^ 
those who act with him to come back and 
pay these debts if they could ; but they a^ 
cannot do it. It is in bad taste for him ^ 
and others'to come here aud throw these 
things in the face of the republican party 
as if they were crimes upon our part, when ' ■" 
they aro but the consequences, the legiti- 
mate results of his own conduct and those 
who acted with him. I am not putting it ' "^ 
in a personal sense. When the Senator ar- 
raigns the republican party for the conse- 
quences of the rebellion, I tell him it is 
not within his power and it is not good 
taste for him to hold us responsible for 
it. 

Mr. ;aiERRiMON. That is simply a ques- 
tion of taste, then. 

Mr. SIORTON. No, sir ; it is no question 
at all. There is no question about it. If 
these things are the natural and legiti- 
mate consequences of the rebellion, it doe& 
not become those who were concerned in 
that rebellion, who helped to make it, or 
took any part in it, to throw it up to us as- 
if it were a crime On our part ; and that i» 
what is continually being done. We are held 
responsible for the crimes, the misfortunes, 
and the blunders of others. 

Mr. Merrimon. Are we to sit here 
with our mouths closed, and are we not 
the equals of other Senators on this floor ? 
If not, we ought to be turned out and sent 
away. I take it we aro sent here under 
the Constitution of our country to do 
whatever we can by our advice and by our 
votes and co-operation calculated to pro- 
mote the best interests of the countiy. I 
am here for that purpose. If I am not 
here as an equal, if I am not at liberty to 
discuss measures and to aid in maturing 
them, the sooner the republican party turns 
me and the men like me out the better, 

Mr. Morton. My friend has not been 
Bitting all the morning with his mouth 
closed, wo all know, [laughter ;] it is his 
perfect right to hold the party in power 
responsible for any of its misdeeds, and to 
seek to reform abuses that now exist and 
make things better in the future ; but that 
is not what I am talkiag about, and I do 
not intend to have my friend, with all his 
shrewdness, escape from the point. I bidng 
him right back and tell him that all the 
demoralization of the times that he com- 
plains of, these vast expenses, these in- 
creased employees, and the enlargement 
of the civil list, all these are things that he 
and those who acted with him are respon- 
sible for, and they hare bo right to lay 
them at our doors as a crime or an offens©. 



' Tho Senator said in the course of Ms ar- 
jument that tlie republican party had ac- 
X)iiiplisbed all its measures by force. It 
iras imputed to us as a crime that we bad 
iccomplisbed our measures by force. Sir, 
that is in great part true. We bad to put 
the rebellion down by force. It required 
much blood and it required much treasure 
to put it down ; and we are paying the 
.iebt every day; and even that is imputed 
to us as a fault, that the republican party 
has to accomplish its measures by force. 
If we attempt to protect the colored people 
of the South and the white republicans 
irom the numerous slaughters that have 
fallen upon them in the past and from 
thoi9 with which they are threatened in 
the future, we are told that we are trying 
to do it by force. Ay, if we cannot do it 
any other way, it is our duty to do it by 
force. The protection of the lives of the 
peoplo ig the highest duty that is ever im- 
posed upon government ; and when such 
slaughters take place as occurred in South 
Carolina the other day where ten men 
were murdered in cold blood under cir- 
cumstances of atrocity that would shame 
anything that has occurred in Indian war- 
fare for years past, if we try to protect 
men from the repetition of those things even 
by force, would it not be justified? 

The Senator referred to the great cor- 
ruption of the republican party. He spoke 
about the exceeding purity of the Govern- 
ment under democratic administration, 
and how vile and how wicked it was under 
republican administration. I have been 
mingling with the democrats for a great 
many years and I know them pretty well 
everywhere. 

Mr. Meekimon. You used to belong to 
them. 

Mr. Morton. Yes, I did in their better 
days, and I suppose I shall never cease 
having that thing thrown up to me. I left 
them in 1854, twenty-one years ago and 
better. I am now of age in the republican 
party, and whenever a democrat wants to 
hurt my feelings he charges me with hav- 
ing been a democrat. [Laughter.] 

Mr. Merrimon. I can assure my friend 
that I did not intend to wound his feelings. 
I thought it very probably that was the 
proud part of his life. 

Mr. Morton. No, Mr. President, that 
is not the proud part of my life. The 
proud part of my life is that which was 
occupied in assisting in putting down the 
rebellion, preserving this Union, and con- 
quering my friend and others who were in 
arms with him. 

Mr. Merrimon. My proudest part is 
the attempt to break up this corriiption. 

Mr. Morton. I am coming to "this 
corruption" now. The Senator has brought 
in a statement that the Government lost 
during the administration of Andrew John- 
eon over a billion of dollars by fi-auds on 



the revenue in regard to whisky. This 
illustration, like the others, ig exceedingly 
unfortunate. It happens that it was dur- 
ing a democratic administration. 
Mr. Merrimon. O I 
Mr. Morton. It was when the admin- 
istration of the laws was under the control 
and the influence of the democratic party.t, 
but my friend says that the republican 
party is responsible for Johnson's admin- 
istration, because it elected him, just Ir 
the same way that the republican party 
of North Carolina is responsible for my 
friend's speech this morning, because 
they elected him. I imagine that if the 
republicans of North Carolina had heard 
my friend's speech this morning they 
would come to the conclusion they had 
done a very bad job, [laughter ;] that they 
had made a very bad mistake. My friend 
says he could not help getting their votes; 
he did not know about it ; it was a sur- 
prise to him ; he had no intimation of it, 
and he has never forgiven them for voting 
for him yet, and he v/as trying to punish, 
them this morning. [Laughter.] 

Mr. JIerrimon. I was very grateful for 
their votes. 

Mr. Morton. Ah 1 Grateful to thos& 
corrupt fellows for voting for him, and 
comes here to take Government money by 
the votes of a party that he describes as 
being the most corrupt that ever existed, 
Mr. JIerrimon. I did not describe in- 
dividuals in that way. 

Mr. Morton. My friend describes thes. 
republican party generally as being the 
most wicked and corrupt organization. It 
has done some good and generous things 5 
my friend must admit that. It passed & 
bill enabling my friend to take a seat here 
and to give us the benefit from time t&- 
time of his distinguished eloquence. 

Mr. President, it so happens that under 
the administration of Mr. Johnson, whec 
the democratic party had full control of 
him and controlled his appointments, the- 
frauds upon the revenue in the collection 
of the tax on whisky increased enormously,, 
and although the tax at that time was %% 
on the gallon the last year of his adminis- 
tration the collection was a little over $12,- 
000,000, a mere bagatelle. The Senates- 
from Ohio stated the fact here this morn- 
ing. So much for democratic administra- 
tion as compared with republican admin- 
istration. 

The most corrupt administrations this, 
country has ever had were those that were 
purely democratic, and the documents in 
the Treasury Department show it. Th® 
most corrupt periods of our administration 
were under democratic rule. 

Mr. Merrimon. I ask the Senator t«. 
cite his facts. 

Mr. Morton. I am going to. That is 
what I am going to do, and there is wher« 
I shall have the advantage of my distia* 



guished friend. My friend believes all he 
said this morning ; but when his speech is 
in print, it will look like that veritable 
history of Baron Munchausen; but, so far 
as my statement is concerned, I will verify 
it here. I have the statement from the 
Treasniy Department ; I am going to read 
it. Some four or five months ago, on the 
9th of February, I believe, the Senate 
passed a resolution calling on the Secretary 
of the Treasury to make a statement from 
the books of the Treasury of all the defal- 
cations and failures to make settlement, 
from whatever cause, that had occurred m 
our country since the 1st of January, 1S34. 
That embraced the last administration of 
General Jackson. That document was 
*ent here and with it an analysis prmted 
officially. It comes over the signature of 
the Secretary of the Treasury ; it is true ; 
it is given by detail ; and it is worth ten 
thousand of the loose statemeuts that my 
fi-iend has made here this morning. I do 
not care how sincere he is in making those 
statements, 
Mr. Mekrimon. A.llow me one word? 
Mr. Morton. Yes, sir. 
Mr. Mejikimon. I allowed the Senator 
to interrupt me whenever be wanted to. 
That report does not present the facts at 
all, and I had supposed that my friend 
knew it. It does not present a true state 
of any case that is mentioned in it, and I 
believe in support of this declaration I 
might appeal to the Senator from Rhode 
Island, [Mr. Anthony.] I remember to 
have had a conversation with him about 
that, if I may allude to the conversation at 
all ; if it is disagreeable to him I will not. 
Mr. Anthony. Go on sir: I do not un- 
derstand what the allusion is. 

Mr. Morton. I can set that matter 
right*. The statement is not correct in this, 
Mr. Tresident, that there are defalcations 
put down that do not exist, that were af- 
terwards settled ; but so far as the propor- 
tion is concerned between the different 
administrations, so far as my purpose is 
concerned in the comparison I propose to 
make, it is the same as if every defalcation 
here stated took place. The objection is 
that the statement is not too small, but 
too large. . 

Mr. Merrimon. My objection is— 
Mr. Anthony. I should like to have 
the Senator from North Carolina state 
■what the reference to me is. I did not 

hear it. , , . ,, 

Mr. Morton. I prefer going on. My 
friend has no right to anticipate my state- 
meat by coming in with a caveat in advance. 

Mr Merrimon. The Senator from Indiana 
ou^t not to read that paper, for It does not pre- 
■ent the facts. I have read no paper that does 
not present the facts as shown by the official 
records That paper does not present the facts. 

tt'he "PRKSiDiNG Officer. Does th« Senator 
Crom Indiana yield ? . .^ .. , . j .„ 

Mr Morton. I do not yield to my Jnend to 
•ake such a atat^Ment ta tUat. I stated wherein 



It does not present the facts, that some of those 
defalcations in ail administrations were afterward 
settled or turned out to be nominal ; but that per- 
tained just as much to one as to another, and, so far 
as the object I have in view is concerned, it is a 
fair statement, because it shows the proportion In 



all administrations, and now I propose to |lvo It 
just as it is furnished from the booUs of the Treas- 
ury Department, and It puts to Bight ten thou- 
sand lies that are being told every day In every 
State aud from every slump about the republican 
party. , _ , 

Take the last administration of General .Tacic- 
ion. The defalcations and failures to make set- 
tlement on the thousand dollars of collection as 
shown by the books of the Treasury were #10.55; 
in Van Buren's adminlstrailon, $21.15; In Harri- 
son and Tyler's administration, 110.37; In Follc'H 
administration, $H.34; in Taylor and Fillmore's, 
$7.54; la Pierce's administration, $5.86; la Buc- 
hanan's administration, the last democratio ad- 
ministration, $6.98; In Lincoln's administration, 
$1 41, and that was during the war; In Johnson's 
adminisirallon. forty-eight cents; In Grant's first 
administr<atlon. forty cents ; and In the last three 
years of Grant's adminisirallon, twenty six cents 
on the $1,000. Here we have the statement from 
the Treasury Department that puts to flight all 
these Munchausen stories that are told about the 
monstrous corruption and degradation of iho re- 
publican party ; and I undertake to say now that 
all things considered, while there are defalca- 
tions, and there always will be until human 
nature Is regenerated, and while there will bo 
failures and shortcomings and frauds, I believe 
to-day is the purest and best administration this 
country has ever had. 
Mr Mbrhimon. Gracious alive ! 
Mr. Morton. The Senator says "gracious 
alive " It requires stronger declarations than 
that to get over these figures. My democratio 
friends have but two arguments In this oamhalgn. 
The argument has been, In the South, violence, 
Intimidation ; and the argument In the North is 
the cry of reform and corruption. The first argu- 
ment is the shot-gun, the revolver, the bowie- 
knife, and It Is sharp and murderous; and the 
second argument Is false and hypocrltlcaL [Ap- 
plause in the galleries.] 

ThePRKSiDino Officer. The rules must toe 
observed. .,^ ,j ^^ ^ i_ 

Mr Morton. I think it has been said that In 
the List year of Puch;inan's administration, (n 
1860 the expenses of the Government were only 
$90 000,000. Well, Mr. Prisident, the population 
then wa.s 31,0)0,01)0 ; it is now not less than 44,000,. 
000- and when you take the e.xpenditures of the 
Government then and compare them with the ex. 
pendilures now, and the population then 31.0ilO,000, 
now 4-1 000 000, and take out the payment of the la. 
terest on the public debt, the payment of pensions, 
and all the expenses brought upon us by the re- 
hellion,! make the declaration without fear of 
contradiction that the expenses of the Govern, 
mentnoware loss per capita than they were la 
I860 If they have been increased the responsl- 
bility is just were 1 placed It and where history 

^ M^'presidcnt, I should like to read this whole 
statement, but it is long and I will ask the privi- 
lege of incorporating it in my remarks. I mean 
the statement from the Treasury Department 
with all its details. ^. ^, 

The PBESiDiNO Offtcbr. Is there objection. 

Mr. Eaton. I object. I object because It was 
not permitted to the honorable Senator from NortJi 
CaroUna to have a table printed in his remarks. 

Mr Anthomy. Then nave it read. 

Mr! Morton. I did not object to what myfrlond 
ofl^ered. , . 

Mr Eaton. Let It be read. 

Mr Morton. Let it be read from the begin- 
nine • it is good reading ; It is in detail, and the 
deuli and particularity will show the truth of 
what I said as a general statement. If my ftlenda 
will have the patience to hear it read, I am 8ur« 
we shall not object. 

TVTr F.aton. Let us hear it. ,„ 

Thi Prssiding Officbr. The Secretary wlU 
read the paper. . «x,i«w.. 

The Secretary te»d »« foUQWS . 




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aiVER AND HA.IIBOR BllJCi — DEBATE CON- 
TINUED. 

The Senate, as in Committee of the 
Whole, (July 19,) losumed the considei-a- 
tion of the bill (II. R. No. 3022) making 
appropriations for the constiixction, reijair, 
presoivalicm, and completion of certain 
puljlic works on rivers and harbors, and for 
other purposes, the pending question being 
on the motion of Mr. Thukman to recom- 
mit the bill to the Committee on Appropri- 
ations with instructions to reduce the aggi'e- 
ffate amouutof the appropriations contained 
in the bill toasum not exceeding $4,000,000. 

Mr. SiiEKMAN. * * * The Senator 
probably was not aware how broad and 
sweeping these charges made by him of cor- 
ruption wei-e or he certainly would not have 
indulged in them. Then, when you come 
to look at his argument, this was one of 
them, and tJie principal one : that the tax 
on whisky was $2 a gallon, and somebody 
bad said, I do not know who, that 100,000,- 
000 gallons of whisky were made in a year. 

Mr. Merrimon. Mr. Fessendeu said so 
in 1864. 

Mr. Sherman. I remember the i-emark 
made by Mr. Fessenden, Ho was one of 
twenty million republicans who mad© an 
error. There never have been 100,000,000 

{jalldns of whisky made since the tax was 
mposed. It was estimated in 18G0 that 
there were 100,000,000 gallons made, by 
the census returns, at a time when whisky 
was worth fourteen or fifteen cents a gallon ; 
but then it was consumed in burning fluid 
and in a thousand ways that it cannot be 
consumed now ; but suicc tiie tax has been 
levied on it it has never reached anything 
like that proportion. Sir. Fessenden sim- 
ply said that prior to 1860 it was estimated 
that the whisky produced in this country 
was 100,000,000 gallons ; and upon this fact, 
detaChed, separated, the Senator says that 
the republican party ought to have collected 
from the people of the United States $200,- 
000,000 a year. 

In the first place, no one was foolish 
enough in the beginning of out internal- 
revenue taxation to proijoss a tax of §2. 
It was a foolish venture. We put on a 
smaller tax, commencmg with twenty 
cents, and we collected mors revenue then 
than with the two dollars' tax. Yy'e grad- 
aally raised it until 1866. It vras demanded 
by public sentiment that we should do what 
we did in 18C6. We then raised the tax to 
$2 a gallon, and that tax remained three 
or four years. During all the time from 
1861 to 1865 the honor.able Senator by his 
logic cliarges the republican with losing 
this Goverument $200,000,000 a year, less 
the amount of tax we actually collected ; 
and that is the kind of argument on which 
he goes to the peopla to show that the re- 
publican party was corrupt I 
' It so ha;ppcned that when this two-dollar 
tax was levied the democratic party had con- 
trol ofthecTec'jl"' YC autlioritjcf tl-c Go~err- 



ment ; it had the President. It is true w? 
elected Mr. Johnson ; we made mistake 
in doing it and we never cease to regret oui 
mistake. Mr. .Johnson turned over the 
whole executive power of the Goverument to 
the democratic party, and the Senator hav; 
presented a numerous list, which containj* 
hundreds of names of men on this list who 
were defaulters, but I would not read thorn 
lest some of them might not have been, 
but there are on it the names of men ap- 
pointed by jlr. Johnson who are now active 
leaders in the democratic party, becaiise 
most of those who went over with Mr. 
Johnson went iut« the democratic party. 
During that time when there was a two 
dollar tax we ars charged with wasting 
and squandering $200,000,000 a year col- 
lected from the whisky tax, ( • which ought 
to have been collected 1 Why, sir, under 
the administration of Andrew Johnson the 
tax collections on whisky went down to 
twelve millions in a single year. The re- 
publican party, however, was charged with 
the responsibility of the Goiernment. 
Were we not anxious to collect this tax ? 
\Vas it not our interest to collect the tax ? 
Did we not pass laws as severe as ths 
Draconian code? Did we not use every 
effort to collect this tax ? And yet under 
President Johnson wa could not do it. 
"Wiry? Partly because the political disputes 
of the time made it difficult to collect in- 
ternal taxes because of bad appointments 
or differences between the Senate and the 
President as to appointment.s, but it was 
mainly because the law was wrong. We 
ought never to have attempted in our 
broad country to put on a tax of $2 a gal- 
lon, and we made the discovery that we 
had made a mistalce and in a short time 
v/e repealed that law and then wc com- 
menced collecting the whisky tax. .After 
we reduced the tax down to fifty cents, I 
believe that the whisky tax was as tho- 
roughly and completely collectotl as any 
tax could be. The only dilficulty in col- 
lecting the whisky tax after that timi-j v/as 
in the States of North Carolina, Tennes- 
see, and other southern sparsely populated 
States. In the great cities for eeveral 
years when the tax ranged between fifty 
and sixty cents a gallon it was collected 
with great exactitude, great correctness ; 
but there was a difficulty in collecting it 
in some of the southern and sparsely popu- 
lated States ; there force had to be used to 
collect it ; the Army had to be employed 
more or less to a considerable extent, but 
all was collected that could be collected. 
So it continued . 

Now, to make this loss of the whislcy 
tax the substratum of this great effort it 
seems to me was not treating the Senato 
of the United States with that proper re- 
spect with which it is noccssaiy to be treat- 
ed. If this was a popular argument to be 
used in the campaign in North Carolina, 
the Senator might have reserved it untU 



he went down there to make a spov ^u to 
that people, wl>ere documents coula not be 
produced at cnce to correct him ; but 
made here in the Senate Chamber he must 
have expected that it would excite indig- 
nation, reply, remark, and exposure if it 
was not correctly and well founded. That 
"■ is all the feeling I had about it ; but if 
there was a little heat — I am sorry I had 
it — it was but natural when the Senator 
was arraigning us as a set of scoundrels 
and rascals corrupting the whole party 

Mr. Merkimon. I beg the Senator's 
pardon. 

Mr. Sherman. The language was most 
broad that the republican party was the 
most corrupt that had ever existed. 

Mr. Merrimon. I said expressly in the 
commencement of my speech that there 
were in the republican party,' as in every 
other party, good men. 

Mr. Sherman, But they must be "few 
and far between," according to the Sena- 
tor's general declamation. We are sensi- 
ble men here, and we know very well that 
the great mass of all political parties of our 
countrymen are honest, desire to do their 
duty to their country, to their families, to 
their God, to themselves ; and therefore 
this broad declamation against parties 
ought not to be indulged in. W'o have a 
right, however, to arraign the official con- 
duct of parties, but in doing so should give 
particulars ; and therefore when the S«ua- 



gle since Adam was boi-n in this world oi 
ours between good and evii ; but we have 
come to believe that in this Republic of 
ours good has been in the ascendant and 
evil has been sent to the penitentiary. 
Such has been our common thought and 
among men of all political parties. 

But, sir, we are now told that the dem- 
ocratic House, where they have a casual 
democratic majority, have unearthed cor- 
ruptions, exposed fi-auds, shown that the 
people have been robbed ; and we natually 
inquire where, when, by whom? And now, 
gentlemen, it will not do for you to talk 
about corruption and fraud and dishonesty 
and wrong in a general hap-hazard way aa 
something that will be disclosed, some bug- 
aboo that will be developed after a while. 
Where is it ? Who has stolen the public 
money? Name your man. It will not do 
for my honorable friend from Delaware to 
say O, well, somebody has plundered the 
Government to the extent of $300,000 in 
some contracts, but I do not want to name 
him ? That is not the way. The names 
have got to be given, the place, the time, 
the circumstances. 

Mr. Saulbburt. I refer the Senator to 
the report of the Committee on Naval Af- 
fairs where he will find it all given. 

Mr. Sherman. It was an unfortunate 
remark for the Senator to make. During 
the last democratic administration that 
governed the country the House of Repre- 



tor was thus declaiming I asked him, if sentativea, by a resolution passed by the 
the republican party was so bad, what had votes of men of both political parties, de- 

the democratic party done for the last ' " 

forty years that would induce him to go 
for it or that would command his respect. 
My friend from Indiana spread that ques- 
tion a little further, and wanted to know 
what good measure the democratic party 
had ever adopted. It is a remarkable fact, 
Mr. President, and I may as well put in 
here as this is a political discussion, that 
there is not a single position taken by the 
democratic party for the last thu-ty years 
on which they now dare to make a stand 
and defend it. You may look over the 
whole political arena and you will find it 
to be so. I say when you contrast the 
position of these two great parties, what 
they have done, what they have proposed, 
where they sfeand, the contrast may bo 
drawn by any intelligent man. I say the 
democratic party has been compelled to 
abandon and recede from every position it 
has taken, and it will not now in this can- 
vass in which it seeks again to come into 
power stand upon any position it has taken 
for the last thirty years. 

But, sir, its cry is reforni. Well, every 
honest man is in favor of reform. There 
never will be a period in the history of 
mankind that reform wiU not be an imper- 
ative demand. Crimes, offenses, are con- 
tinually occurring; there will be efforts 
against the interests of the mass of man- 
kind. There! has been a continual strug- 



nounced the administration of Lhe Naval 
Department then in terms stronger than 
can be used now and for the same class of 
contracts that have been investigated into 
recently. But I do not wish to go into 
that; " sufficient unto the day is the evil 
thereof." I do not believe that when the 
report is made and it comes to be discussed, 
any wrong or fraud will rest upon the h^d 
of that Department, and if there is, the 
republicans will be as swift to punish him 
as the Senator can be ; but until then he 
is bound as an honest and. honorable man 
to consider him innocent. 

Mr. Saulsburt. I have not said a word 
against the head of the Navy Department; 
I have not referred to him. 

Mr. Sherman. We ought not to deal in 
insinuations. I naturaSy leaped to the 
conclusion that there was some wrong or 
fraud to be disclosed by some committe© 
of the House in regard to the Navy De- 
partment, and necessarily its head. Now, 
sir, ought we to deal in such imputations? 
Are men's characters toba made a football 
of? If the House makes any allegation 
against any member of this Government 
we are bound to try him, tls judges, sworn 
under our oath in the particular case, and 
we have no right to prejudge. The only 
particular cases that my frieud from Dela- 
ware gave us — he was unfortunate there — 
were those of a defaulting paymaster oi 



the army of the United States and a man 
convicted of whisky frauds. Paymasters 
are generally men selected in honor. The 
Senator gave his name as Major Hodge. 
Well, Major Hodge was a defaulter ; but 
he was t^ied, convicted and sent to the 
penitentiary for his defalcation. I under- 
stood he was a Democrat always. I knew 
his father before him. He was in the 
regular army. Would you hold the Re- 
publican party responsible for his defalca- 
tion because he gambled away the public 
money, lost it, and squandered it? I hear 
a Senator say we ought to have known it. 
Are we omuiscient? Is the Democratic 
party omniscient? O. no. The very mo- 
ment his offense was detected he was pun- 
ished and sent to the penitentiary. I know 
it is claimed that he was pardoned. I hear 
It said, '-Grant pardoned him." So he did, 
on the demand of numberless Democrats 
high in oificial position. If he did wrong 
he did the wroug of being merciful to a 
man who had violated his public duty. 

Mr. Logan. He pardoned the Ku-Klux, 
too, on the same kind of recommenda- 
tions. 

Mr. Shekman. It is not on such pre- 
mises as that that a great party like the 
Republican party is to be tried and con- 
victed. And you say there were McDon- 
aid and McKee— my honorable friend saw 
them v/ithin the bars of the State prison. 
Who put them there? What Democrat 
shared in that work? Not a Democrat. 
They were put there by Republicans ; and 
when did a Democratic administration put 
a Democrat behind the bars of a peniten- 
tiary for official misconduct ? Tell me the 
case, when, where, and under what ad- 
ministration. But unfortunately they say 
Dyer, Pratt. and others have been removed; 
and we are brought in and arraigned, not 
for offences charged against the Republi- 
can party, but because in our administra- 
tion the Secretary of the Treasury resigns, 
the Commissioner of Internal Revenue re- 
signs, or disputes, coldness, or disagree- 
ment arise in the administration of the 
Government, and we are at once charged, 
because these men retire from office, with 
seeking to shield the guilty instead of pro- 
tecting innocence. Ah, gentlemen, you 
must do something better than that if you 
wish to make an arraignment against the 
Republican party. 

But some one said, I think my friend 
from North Carolina, or perhaps my friend 
from Delaware, that we had squandered 
$3,000,000 in the Southern States from the 
judiciary fund. Why, sir, what became of 
that $3,000,000? It was the money ex- 
pended in putting down the Ku-Klux or- 
ganization, the most infamous organization 
in modern history since the time of some 
of those in India, which disgraced the civ- 
ilization of the old countries. Three mil- 
lion dollars were spent for that purpose, 
and no doubt some money was wasted, 



some was defrauded; but that occurs Ib 
the administration of every large fund ol 
this kind; there is petty peculation which 
plunders and robs from the public as welj 
as from private individuals. Public crime 
as well as private crime exists in every 
community, in every State, in every land, 
in the quiet hamlet, in the Connecticut 
village at well as in the border regions fai 
remote. There will be vice and crime 
evei-y where; it accompanies all agencies 
that are human, and we cannot avoid it 
entirely. All we can say in reply is that 
when these peculations occur we expose 
them and we punish them; and when we 
contrast our conduct and our administra- 
tion with that of others gone before us^, 
ours is far more favorable than theirs. 

Here is the official statement of the 
actual losses that occurred during our war. 
They are all honorable to us. Scarcely 
any money was lost in our war by defalca- 
tion and peculation; I say scarcely any in 
proportion to the percentage of other 
losses. Take the case of the internal reve- 
nue, the very service that was sought to!?® 
saddled with $-20,000,000 of unaccounted 
balances. Take that case and we have the 
fact that only $y,37G,000 have been lost oi' 
all the taxes that have been levied in th© 
form of internal taxation since the organi- 
zation of the system to the last year, or 
one-thirteenth of one-thousandth of 1 per 
cent. 

There is another remarkable fact showii 
in our military history. I have !iot th© 
statement before me, but I saw the state- 
ment made that the losses — including 
Major Hodge's defixlcatiou, which is onts 
of the largest — that occurred by paymas- 
ters and other disbursing officers in our 
war, compared with the Prussian service, 
the English service, or any service of which 
we had a record, was only about one-tenth 
of the amount. The actual fidelity in tho 
disbursements of public men after the wa^- 
and during the war is almost unprece- 
dented in the history of mankind. 

You, gentlemen, have now had the full 
power of this Government. You have aii 
organized House, whose sole purpose ha© 
been to delve in and try to find if we have 
been gidlty of rascality or wrong. They 
have ample means, ample ability, and 
what has been the outcome? You tell us- 
that something will be disclosed when th© 
reports are printed. Can it be possible 
that these men are withholding their re- 
ports in order to prevent us from answer- 
ing them, or to prevent the men whom 
they accuse from answering them in th© 
proper way? I trust not. I do not be- 
lieve it, and will not believe it. They have 
here and there fallen upon delinquents. 
Men of both political parties have been 
struck at by these committees. They may 
not have been groping in the right direc- 
tion, but wherever they groped they found 
a Democrat; and they found, no doubt, 



(some bad Republicans. But if this is to 
be a campaign of scandal, if this is to be a 
campaign of abuse, then I warn gentle- 
men that the people of this country are a 
kind-hearted people. I never saw an in- 
telligent crowd in Ohio but what turned 
with loathing and disgust from a man who 
addressed them in the language of calumny 
and reproach. Go to that people, talk to 
them plain, common sense; be the orator 
ever so dull, be he ever so witty, they will 
bear it all; they wiU take a joke in kind, 
good humor; but commence your strain of 
calumny and reproach by trying to prove 
that Grant is a rascal and that all these 
Republicans who have carried the Repub- 
lican banner in triumph, in i^eace and in 
war, are scoundrels, and they will tui-n 
their backs upon you unless you bring 
facts, figures, names and dates, and prove 
your charges. Sir, your campaign of scan- 
dal and slander will be at an end in thirty 
days after it has commenced. Your cry 
of reform will require something else than 
mere empty air. The people will ask what 
security do you, the Democratic party, 
give us for reform. Why is Governor Til- 
den any more likely to reform this Gov- 
ernment than Governor Ilayes? What is 
there in the character of these two men 
that gives one, Tilden, the pre-eminence 
over Hayes as a reformer? Whnt is there 
in the conduct of your party that gives 
you the right to claim to be reformers? 
You have been driven from all your posi- 
tions; you do not stand where you stood 
at any time within tlie last thirty years. 
Sir, the people will know who are these 
prophets of reform before they trust them. 
You must show something e'lss than the 
history of the last few years in the South- 
ern States; you must show somethiiig else 
in the nature of reform before they will 
trust the old associates of Tweed in New 
York; you must show that the Democratic 
party has in it elements of reform which 
will give some security for their promises; 
otherwise the people will not heed your 
talk abo-at reform. 

Sir, I again express my regret to the 
Senate that I have been led to participate 
In this debate. I think myself we ought 
to leave this question to the people of the 
United States and let them discuss it in 
their assemblages all over this broad laud 
of ours; and ray hope is that, although 
they may see hero and there something to 
find faidt with in the course of the Re- 
publican party or the Republican leaders, 
they will think on the whole it is better 
for tho North, and South to trust that 
strong, powerful political organization that 
has guided our country through the perils 
of war, that has secured reconstruction, 
and aa the whole has given to the country 
a wise administrat.ion of aflairs. 

I appeal to my friends from the South- 
ern States, becauso I think I can say that 
ftt least I am not their enemy, that the 



time has not arrived when the Democratic 
party can again come into power in this 
country. Its history during recent events 
has not been such as to excite th^ hopes 
and emotions that ought to follow^he suc- 
cess of a great political party It is better 
for the South that a good man who will be 
fair and honest and straightforward, true 
to his word, manly in every undertaking, 
bold in execution of every promise, should 
preside over this Government for four 
years longer before you revive again in a 
popular contest the old struggle between 
the Democratic and Republican parties. 
At all events I pray my Democratic friends 
not to commence it here by gross exagge- 
ration, by wholesale calumny, by charges 
that will never be proven, and by preten.ses 
that have not been justified by the past 
history of the Democratic party. 

Mr. Bogy. I move that the Senate 
adjouj-a. 

HIVER AND HARBOR BrLI.. 

The Senate, as in Committee of theWliole, 
July 22, resumed the consideration of the 
bill (II. R. No. 8033) making appropria- 
tions for the construction, repair, preser- 
vation, and corajjletion of certain public ' 
works on rivers and haibora, and for other 
purposes, the pending question being on 
the motion of Mr. Thurman to recoxnmit 
the bill to the Committee on Appropria- 
tions with instructions to reduce the aggre- 
gate amount of the appropriations con- 
tained in tho bill to a sum not exceeding 
$4,000,000. 

Mr. BouTWELL. Mr. President, I agree 
with much that has been said by the Sen- 
ator from Vermont [ilr. Morrill] in re- 
gard to the condition of the country, and 
I dis.igree entirely to the theory that if the 
condition of ^.tTairs for the moment were 
as unfavoralde as represented by gentle- 
men on the other side, therefore neces- 
sary expenditures on public works should 
be omitted. Whatever may be the coiidi- 
tion of affairs to-day, nothing can be more 
certain than that tho country ha.'i in the 
future a career of prosperity. We have 
credit ; we have resources ; and above all 
we have great capacity for labor. Noiv, so 
far as jmblie works have been undertaken, 
the undertaking of which was wise, it is 
more wise to prosecute them and prosecute 
them with vigor under the circumstances 
that exist, and if the circumstances were 
more unfavorable so witb stronger reason 
ought we to prosecute these works. 

The reasons are two : first, they can he 
now prosecuted to completion at less cost 
than they can be when the affairs of the 
couutry are in a more favorable condition, 
and second, although I would notundcrtakfl 
public works, and especially thosa nos 
necessary, for the purpose of giving em- 
ployment to the peeple, yet, when public 
works are undertaken and when those 
works are necessary, there cari bo uo 



11 



Eu^her daty resting upon a Governn.c-nt 
which has both resources in property and 
resources in credit than to prosecute those 
words to successful completion. 

A government should be abovo the reach 
of panics, which necessarily affect individ- 
uals, and under unfavorable circumstances 
we should exhibit courage, not only be- 
cause the exhibition of courage is favor- 
able in a pecuniary point of view to the 
Government itself, but we set an example 
to people who otherwise would be in lack- 
ing: courage, and they will take advantage 
of opportunities which in a less degree are 
equally favorable to their own fortunes. 
Now, if our friends on the other side will 
excuse me for the statement of a fact 
which occurred during the war, I wiU ven- 
ture to make it. In the darkest days, 
when our enemies were pressing us at 
every point along the line and when from 
the steps of this Capitol you could hear tlie 
reverberation of the cannon across the 
Potomac, we voted an appropriation for 
the completion of this Capitol. It was 
notice, whether taken or not, it was notice, 
and it was so given to oiir then enemies, 
that we did not intend to abandon this 
Capitol. 

Now, there are in this bill appropria- 
tions that I think are unnecessary, and to 
me they are very disagreeable, and I am 
at this moment quite in doubt whether I 
shall vote for the bill or against it ; but 
the time is coming, if it has not now ar- 
rived, when the representatives of the peo- 
ple, without distinction of party, will 
resist appropriations for works which, 
whether constitutional or not, have no 
such nntioiial importance that they ought 
to be undertaken and executed at the 
public expense ; and unquestionably there 
are in this bill such appropriations and 
similar a[>propriatious have been made in 
years past. But we are all concerned in 
putting an end to su.ch drains upon the 
Treasury which profit nothing in a large 
sense probably. By the States and by 
the people where these works are the 
attempt would never be made for their 
executiovj. We ought to unite and aban- 
don thifb system of making appropria- 
tions iu one State because men in an- 
other Stato want other appropriations and 
stand as representatives of States upon the 
fact. If the representatives of a State can 
sat^sfythcir associates here that the works 
for which they ask appropriations are na- 
tional works and the country is in a condi- 
tion to undertake those works, let the work 
ba undertaken. But in this bill there are 
appropriations f^or improvements which are 
not national, which if anything are local, 
and which ought never to find countenance 
in the Congress of the United States. 
What I shaU do about this bill in the end 
I cannot say, but I am at present in favor 
of recommitting it in t'.io hope that the 
(jommir.Tfte ?r?ii%.trika out all thesa appro- 



priations that are not national, wheths; 
the works have been undertaken or whethe r 
they are new ones, and let us for once, :' 
we can, pass a bill which, whether it ap- 
propriates $3,000,000 or $6,000,000, we 
can stand upon and say to our constituents 
and to the country, "These;appropriationi 
are made for important public nationa' 
works that will yield a return in the facili 
ties that will be afforded to the coramorca 
and business of the country." 

Now, Mr. President, I depart from the 
particular subject before the Senate for the 
purpose of introducing a document wliich 
I have had in my desk for many month.^ 
waiting for just this occasion, a statement 
prepared at the Treasury with great care, 
showing the net expenses of the Govern- 
ment in the years 1800, 1810, 1S20, \SZ>), 
1840. 1850, 18G0, 1870 and 1875. There is 
a minute and analytical comparison of the 
expenses of the Govermncnt iu 18G0 and 
1 1373, excluding in tlie latter year all those 
1 expenditures which arose from the war, 
and there are tables containing item-j oi 
the expenditures which are thus excluded, 
so that, if the whole shall be printed, any 
person who chooses to examine will hava 
an opportunity to see whether those items 
chissed as belonging to the war are prop- 
erly so classed. Tlris table was prepared 
under the direction of and by Mr. Charles F. 
Conant, who is now Assistant Secretary o* 
the Treasury. His letter to me is dated at 
the Treasury Department, Washington, 
September 16, 1875. He says: 

I incloso herewith tables showing the compara- 
tive expenses of the Government for the yean- 
isTS aad l»ao, excluding war charges. 

Sir. Conant is the responsible person for 
this document and upon my request made 
' It The total expenditures for the fiscal 
year 1875 were $274,623,392.84; the total 
expenditures for the year ISGO were $63- 
025,788.98. After deducting the expendi- 
tures for the year 1875 on account of the 
war — and there are appended to this, which 
I will have printed, analytical tables, show- 
ing what these deductions are— the net re- 
sult is that the expenditures Tor the year 
1875 were $84,773,763.49 in cv.rrency, but 
the expenditures in 1860 were in gold. Mr. 
Conant has deducted 12TfiijV^ per cent... as 
the premium on gold for the year 1873, 
leaving a net expenditure in gold for that 
year of $74,028,688.09. Then there are 
deductions made both from the expendi- 
tures of the year 1860 and of the year 1875 
growing out of the method of keeping the 
books of the Department. Upon that point 
there is an analytical statement of the de- 
! ductions and also a note showing the rea- 
i son for them. He says: 

The following Items which are Included In th« 
acareeate as expenditures both for the years :8SJ 
and 1875 are deducted from each for tha reasotj 
that they are not e:^pendituros in the true meau- 
ine of the word, as they involve no outlay of money 
by the Treasury and are no burden upon the tax. 
payers, thoy being merely entries on both tha 
debit and credit side of the books (made necessary 



12 



' the system of book-keeping in the Department) 

moneys TCC.P/IVP.d fmm r>oi.ar,no .„^ -„i,_ ,., ' 



^fm^^f^f^^™ of book-keeping in the Department) 
ri^^^ rj^^.^u'^^'^ ^'■°™ persons and subseqnently 
aame?^ *^' expended In their behalf, 

And thence gives the items in each 
year. After deducting the amounts thus 
placed to the debit and credit side of the 
books for the years 1860 and 1875, respect- 
ively, the result is that the expenditures 
for the year 1875, excluding the war expen- 
ditures, deducting the premium on gold, 
excluding the amounts placed to the debit 
and credit side of the books in the Depart- 
ment, \?ere $69,856,117.77. The expendi- 
tures upon the same basis for the vear 1860 
were 161,402,408.64. 

Mr. Bogy. By whom is the table fur- 
nished? 

Mr. BouTWELL. By Mr. Conant, the 
present Assistant Secretary of the Treas- 
ury. 

Mr. Bogy. It is not official, is it? be- 
cause it states facts that cannot be official. I 
They are absurd. The premium on gold 
certainly can play no part in the expenses. 
In 1860 gold was the only coin used, and it 
cannot property be added or deducted. It 
plays no part. This is an individual table 
Mr. BouTWELL. Senators will deal with 
the processes as they think justice requires- 
but Mr. Conant— and in that I concur-^ 
had deducted from the currency expenses 
of the year 1875 the premium on gold, so 
that the expenses are represented ulti- 
mately in thi^s table as gold expenses in 
1860 and gold expenses in 1875. 

Mr. Bogy. The premium on gold can 
correctly play no part in a table of that 
kind. It is not correct at all. It can be 
neither added nor deducted; it cannot be 
treated as an item at all. 

Mr. BouTWELL. I desire now to call the 
attention of the Senate to the tables show- 
ing the expenses per capita in each of the 
years which I will mention. 

The expenses per capita, including slaves 
who paid no part of the expenses of the 
Government directly, were in 

038 



1800 
1810. 
1820. 
1830. 
1840. 
1850. 
I860.. 
1870. 



. 1 171 

. 1.897 
. 1.178 
1.4i!4 
1.768 
1.952 
1.781 



An^nnn^Jn' estimating the population at 
40,000.000, which was the estimate of the 
Treasury Department, the expenses ver 
capita $l,7i(i. ^ ^"^ 

.o-?,nLnn™^*.^^^ *^® P°P"l^<^ion in 1875 
4o,U00,000, which is my own opinion upon 
the best information I can obtain, the ex- 
penses were $1,060 for each inhabitant 
including those who had formerly been 
slaves. This table I will hand to the re- 
porter with a request that the whole of it 
ma^ be printed. 

Mr. Saulsbury. Does it contain any 
Items which the Senator has not read? 



Mr. BouTWELL. Yes, sir. 
I Mr. Saulsbury. I beUeve the rule was 
apphed to this side of the chambeT^JaTS 
must be read, or otherwise it ought not to 
go into the Record. «< "ot mj 

Mr. Edmunds. Very well, let it be read. 
We cannot dispense with it 

Mr. Hamlin. It is done-every day. 
f.« ,??^TWEi'i'- I tope the Senator 
from Delaware will not object to tS 

^^L ^«^^''^«t^O"s made on account of 
the war expenses, and are very necessary 
to a proper understanding of the tables 
themselves and also furnish the evident 
by which the correctness of the estimatS 
^UlTf ^^^ be ascertained, eitSS ei 
tabhshed or refuted. I should not like to 
withdraw them. 
. The Presiding Officer. Is there ob- 

'S'^^tfraj'"'^ "^^ ^^'^^^ '' ^« P^-^^ 
Mr. BOUTWELL. It will take a couple of 
i hours to read them, I dare say ^ 

Mr. Bogy. The table is the work of a 
gentleman who may be holding office, but 
it IS no an official paper at all, an^'do^a 
not ptetend to be an official paper. But 
taking the figures stated by the Senator 
from ivlassachusetts, they would show that 
the expenses of the Government are now 
or were in 1875, about $150,000,000. The 
total amount of expenses mentioned in 

000,000, from which should be dedurtpH 
faidy about $100,000,000 for the iute'est 

$100,000,000, but call it $100,000,000 in 
round numbers; and $30,000,000 for the 
pension list. 

clahis?^^^'^''^^" ^""^ *'^°''^ Southern 

A2?I'Jo?oo7VhJr«''w^^ **"*'" ^^<"°'^"» "ems from 
»^74,i.oo,ooo, there will remain about 8144.000 ooo 
or say $150,000,000 In round numbers as the ex 
penses of the Government other than explnfei 
created for the army or the navy, or whfT thl 
pntloman from Vermont has so oftrn stated 
have grown out of the late unfortuniU war 
Nevertheless the fact remains that the expenses 
are about $144,000,000 or $160,COO,000, besidef the 
amount paid for interest and the amount nafdfo? 
the pension-Ust. I have no objection to the state' 
ment being published ; 1 havo no objection to th« 
facts going tefore the country, no matter wherj 
they come from; but this is not an official docu 
ment; it is the mere production of a Kcntleman 
^AV^*'; ^° ^'^"""^ ^^^'=°' biit It has nf evSe. 
ofofflcialchaiacter even, and some of his items 
are, in my estimation, very absurd and shouTJ 
not be in a statement of this character *"""'« 
Blr. Saulseury. I mova that the Senate ad 
journ. I think there Is not a quorum p?e.ent 

Mr. Stevenson. Mr. President : 

Mr BOUTWELL I believe I have the floor, and 
I wish this paper to be road as part of my speech 
If there is objection to it° "■-'"- '- .,._•' ■A'""'^« 



wrthout beinl7erd: '" ''' ^'^""^ ^"^ *^« ^^^"''^^ 

Mr. Howe. Is there objection ? 

Blr. Edmunds. I should like much to hear It. 
as Its accuracy ig assailed. ^ 

Mr. Hamlin I rise, Mr. ITesldent, to a quos- 

tlonoforder, thatno objection prevents a Sena^ 

I tor from incorporating such a i-aver in hisrSl 

marks. It is done almost every day ""'=>r»- 

Mr. Edmuxds. He can have It read by a «». 
jonty vote. ' ""^ 



13 



The Prbstdtno Officer. The Chair will 
state that there |3 no rule of the Senate on the 
subject. A majority of the Senile can determine 
the matter in too Judgrment of the Chair. The 
Chair ■wflU submit the question, If it Is the desire 
of the Senator, whether this statement shall be 
Incorporated in the Record without being read. 
Senators, those tn favor of this permission will 
say aye ; of a contrary oplnloa will say no. 

Mr. Stevenson. I ask for the yeas and nays 
on that question of order. It Is an important 
question of order. 

The yeas and nays were ordered. 

Mr. Satjlsburt. On account of the appeals 
made to me by my friends on this side of the 
House, I will withdraw, If It is not too late, the 
objection, while my own judgment is that it has 
been the rule of the Senate not to permit state- 
ments to be incorporated tn the Record which are 
not read. 

The Prestdino Officer. Objection being 
withdrawn, the point of order falls, and the state- 
ment will be incorporated in the Record. 

The tables produced by Mr. Boulwell are as 
follows : 

Comparison of the Expenditures of 1875 vitk 
those of 1S60. 



• a. 



<» _ 






'-el 

1,^9 '■ 



a — 



Si 



ii. 



p 3 » 



ct;> 



<^ C 

2 a. 



- rO ■« < 



'. ° ■^'. 



c~ — - 

C.2 3 • 



o — 



E: 



: ; 



r£. 



3'-1 oc 
« p 



oj — — o 00 CKtays 






.SS: 



Cn^ >- tO' Cn to -fik 






WtO. w — 



en oj - co^ to CO 

O lO • « y"* — 2 

S m * S -3 o o 

S 3^ • bS '^ oc •-* 



« 00 iT w 



: g|g 



15 w 8- = 



S 3 O «> W in — 



3i! 

50 — 



\ mnIS 

> QO J^ -I 

: §as 
: ssa 



SE.-3 



"I ?s ~ '-1 



►^2 rt- 

M-'O 3 
So-32; 

I ^ 



5^ 



Ta&Z« sAowinjr expenditures per capita. 



Tear. 


Poptilat'n 


Expenditur's J^^^ 


1800 


5,805,925 
7,239,814 
9,638.134 
12.868,020 
17,069,458 
28, 191, 878 
81,443.321 
88,553,983 
40,000,000 


»10, 813,971 01 
8, 474; 753 37 
13.285,634 89 
15,142,198 26 
24.314,518 19 
40.948,383 12 
61.402,408 64 
68.684,613 92 
69,856,117 77 


2. OSS 
1.171 
1.897 
1.178 
1.424 
1.76« 
1.952 
1 781 


1810 


1320 

1830 


1840 


1S50 


1860 


1870 


1875 (estimated).... 


1.746 



Note.— For explanations of deductions see accom- 
panying statements marked A to K, lucIuslTe. 

5t.\te>ient A— Congress. 

Reporting debates In Congress $45,625 00 

Printing Tor Congress, Inchiding debates. ..259,527 38 

Printing for Treasury Department 136,000 00 

PrlntingforWar Department 43,234 00 

Printing for Interior Department 102,000 00 

Printing for Department of Justice...; 6,100 00 

591.356 3t 



Statement B.— Executive. 





Expenses 
In 1860. 


Expenses 
in 1875. 


Increase. 


Balarl'sln Treasury 
Department : 

OfflceofSecretary.. 

First Auditor 

Second Auditor.... 

Third Auditor 

Fourth Auditor 

Filth Auditor 

First Comptroller. 

Second Comptroller 

Treasurer 

Reglstir 

Comp'r of Treasury 

War Dept. and Us 
Bureaus 

Navy Dept. and Us 
Bureaus 

In terio-Dept., Pen- 
sion Office 

Int. Kev. OiBce 


147,931 00 
35,470 00 
35. 470 00 

132.905 70 
27,737 80 
]7.8il 43 
23,340 00 
26.840 00 
28,751 15 
61,707 11 

145.584 02 
107,330 00 
126,206 46 


1476.689 97 
72.903 81 
26S,583 22 
246,801 97 
77,697 46 
61,304 83 
72,454 75 
110,926 97 
414,361 44 
243 337 50 
134,764 01 

972,535 17 

121,735 20 

464,821 21 


f65.600 0» 
37,438 61 
231,113 n 
113,898 27 
49,959 66 
33,683 40 
44.114 75 
84 086 97 
387,610 29 
191.620 39 
134,764 01 

823,951 13 

14.435 20 

333.614 75 
335, 168 80 

2,839,065 67 









STATEMENT C.—/t£(iiciar.v. 

The expenses of courts Incurred on ic- 
count of Internal revenue suits are es- 
timated by the First CoTunroller at 
one-third of the total expenditures, 

or $I,3G5.576 07 

STATEMENT D.— Foreign Intercourse. 

Salaries and expenses of the United 
Slates and Br'tfsh Claims Commission. 

Awards to British claimants 

Salaries and expenses, court of commis- 
sioners of Alabama claims 



2.093 25 
;.92I).S1U 00 



R4. 347 79 

2,C10.i3S 98 
STATEMENT Y,.— Miscellaneous. 

Payment of judgments. Court of Claims 516, 531 35 
Salaries and expenses southern claims 

commission .51.500 00 

Examination of national banlcs and 

bank-note plates "05 75 

Expenses of engraving and printing.... l.-iSl.S'iS 41 

Expenses of national currency Sai.nrs 27 

Expenses of national loan 2.m 47 

Retundiug naiionnl debt 15<i.JVi 11 

Refunding proceeds of cotton seized 5i,-2:i 47 

Pavment for lands said for direct taxes. t\:. Hii) uo 
Return of proceeds and expenses of col- 
lection of captured property 881.249 81 

Refunding taxes Illegally collected. — 693 00 

Be-lssulng national currency 64,244 76 

SuDDortor free schools in South Oaio- 

ifna 3,900 00 

Refunding excess of duty to national 

banks 258 40 

Defending suits and claims for seizure of 

captured property 26, 124 00 

Compensation of persons employed in 

insurrectionary States 4,063 63 

Expenses of assessing and collecting In- 

teral revenue 5,183,513 81 



14 



Support of Preerlraan's Hospital and 
Asylum jQ^jQQ Qj, 

Nation;;! Association for Relief of Col- 

orea Woiucu and Children 10,000 00 

CompensatieniiiJlouof moltii's 67,134 18 

Postage In lieu offraakliigprivileKe.... I,i)22li65 13 
SxtraordinarT expenses incurred for 
the District of Columbia : 

Fayinent of Indebtedness ?1, 300, 000 00 

Payment of Interest on 3.65 
loau...*.« 154,554 64 

?ubll« bulldtnxs and Im- l.«4,554 64 

proving rivers and harbors 
in 1875 15,365,012 30 

Expended forsarae purposes 
lalSSO 2,9-13,371 48 

ilxpensesof eollectlnfr rev- 12,451,640 S2 

eiiue fr' m cu-stoms, includ- 
ing revenue cutter service, 
111875 8,006,678 10 

"ost for same service in 1860 3,321,430 53 

■ 4,682,247 57 



28,616,523 53 
: TATE.ME.VT F.—Pen.fiotig. 
ihecnti'-c amount on account of pen- 
sions is dmluctsd, as it is not reasona- 
ble to suppose that nja.'v persons who 
would be entitled to the benefits of the 
old peusioc lamrs are now living $92,456,215 22 

Statemext Gc.- Military estaUishmsnt. 

Bounty under act of July 28. 1896 227-111 4i 

Traveling expenses of California volun- ' 

teers and Mlchiean cavalry 12.185 1s 

i'-ureau of Refugees and Kreedmen 3r7i6 20 

Horses and otlier property lost in laili- ' 

tary service 

ae-imbursing States' expenses in sup- 
pressing rebellion isg ggy oq 

Claims ofloyal citizens for supplies fur- ' 

nished during the rebellion 1 "es 170 *n 

Publication of official records oi the • •" »" 

war of rtbellion 

Commutation of rations to prisoners of 

war 

Stoppaffos or fines due National iiome 

for Disabled Volunteers 911 595 10 

Expeusesunder reconstruction acts...! \m\ nA 
Bounty and pri^e money to colored sol- 
diers and sailors SO 000 GO 

Keeping, transporting, and supplying ' 

^prisoners of war. » 2, ins 35 

168,869 59 



83,720 63 



20,000 00 

4,000 00 

,595 12 
240 04 



National cemeteries. 



1S4.9S9 1? 
40,030 Ofi 



S, 171, 371 0? 



^e^^1•'ill?°^' .^"'.^'■*"^^* '" national cem- 
Alc'jical and SurgicaViiistory oftUe War! 

Total of claims actually paid 
increased expenditures of the Armv'in 

consequence of the war: -^'^my ^ 

PayofthoArmyf3,82«,<«4 55 fl0,87^TO9 3» 
Com:s>Dept.. 2,745,162 67 •2,851.g4 74 
Q. M. Dept 6,470,472 58 12,9o0;263 ffl 

13,014,559 80 16^72,358 38 13,627,^^8 KT 

o^ 16,799,169 63 

STATEMENT H.-JVauai establishment. 

Priz« money to captors 04, «,. ,„ 

se""^ aestrucUon of enemy's Ves- 

PaynjenVte Officers aiid'crew of tJiiYte^^ 50,419 32 

btates bteamcr Kearsarse.... 
-Navy pensions 

Kxtraordinarjr expenditure' ouicc'iujai 
of construction of four new vessels... 




Statement 1.— Public debt. 

Interest on the public debt 103,893,544 57 

Statement k. 
The following items which are included in the ar- 

f^ifi;rdrdf.?t's.r^-ea^^.i^for^rh^\2-ftift{fe 



te.nofbook-keeplngr„p«cyc«^*Sfro'7eKceiV^^^^ 
from persons and conseciuenMy returned i» tkem or 
expended in their behalf, namely; ®™ ** 



Items. 



Refunding excess ofi 
amounts deposited by 
importers for unascer- 
tained duties 

Debentures and draw- 
backs 

Kel'undiug duties erione- 
ously or illegally col- 
lected 

Patent fund ! 



J814,826 87 
S85.158 39 



3,821 5.^ 
219,573 53 



»1, 863, 657 85 
1,626,562 17 



9,810 3S 
672,539 37 



Total ! i. 623, 380 341 



4,172,570 8S 



\ 



■liioaitic Reform and their Platform Examined, 



itliB House, July 31, 1876, Hon. Jacob I tributes to the ^en.ral stagnation of business I, 



Thokxbukgh said : 



* Mr. Speaker, it provokes both a smile and 

: t'u.'isot InJignation to hear the eharge made 

. i.u.st. the republican party by the democracy 

. ih; expenses of the .Government are Increas- 

^ v..i :oo great, that -taxes are burdening the 

;'eup,e, that there are too many clerks and em- 

p.uyoes in the Departments, and our wiekad ex- 

I rc'»vaganc« has brought it about. Do they think 

«ie momory of the American people is so short as 

vj torget that the democratic party of the South 

uuterod into a four years' rebellion, and was aided 

.Ml encouraged by manyof their northern brethren 

wlio are co-operating with thorn to-day V Do they 

siippos'j the people do not know that billious of 

treasure was a part of the price we paid to preserve 

Itha union of the States and make this happy cen- 
tennial rejoicing possible? Do they not know who 
laid tliess burdens that are so hard to bear on our 
jnoulders ? We pay to-day about ninety millions 
interest on the money we borrowed to put down 
:he rebellion. We pay about thirty millions more 
' pensions to disabled Union soldiers, their widows 
and orphans; we i)ay many millions more to olli- 
cers ol the regular Army on the retired list : for 
the examination and payment of claims for sup- 
plies taken ; increase of clerical force to regulate 
and preserve the enormous records accumulatino- 
irom a tour years' war with two millions of men 
on the rolls— all this growing directly out of the 
rebellion. Yet the men engaged in that rebellion 
and thoaa in full sympathy with them then as 
BOW are loudest in bitter denunciation of the ex- 
travagance of the republican party; or, to quote 
the language of an able Senator, they tell us— 
You repuuiicans did not conquer our rebellion 
quite as cheaply as you ought to have done, you 
have not handled ta.Kation and the public debt 
and the otuer consequences growing out of our 
treason as well as you ought to have done. There- 
lore we are indignant about it. You oiio-ht to 
have done this business better ; you ought t'o have 
whipped us at half the expense, and you did not 



wa<*^„ / . . , ' \. expense, ana you did not. wnen ne nrst sees it may discover when tor. la 
We propose to take the Government out of your that his folly and neglect have cost lum a shi" 
hands and ourselves to settle with and .ipni with It is not, fi^nnm* t^ .«r.,.;"., ,« :„_. '^ *J^^'P' 



hands and ourselves to settle with and deal with 
the consequences of our own crimes and blunders. 

Municipal reform and economy are necessary 
No one doubts it. The cir,y of Ne?/ York is an ex- 
ample of this need. V/hat reform has democracy 
lusutuiod there? It has had an undisputed field. 
What h.is It accomplished? It has increased the 
city dcot from $36,UO'),000, in 1S67, to over $132 000 
000 m 187e. Is this the kind of reform democracy 
would bring to the nation ? If it is, our national 
debt would be nearly 410,uaj,coo,000 before the 
close ot a single term ef a democratic control. If 
democracy has done better than this in any other 
oity where it has had control, let us have the 
name of the city and the character of the reforra 
ostai)lished. 

As for the practice of economy In public expen- 
dltures, I believe in it. The republican party 
practice it. But saving money does not always 
indica e economy. You may refuse to build a 
light-l-ouse where one is needed and thereby save 
a few thousands of dollars, but you inflict an in- 
jury on commerce and on humanity which cannot 
pe calculated in dollars and cents. You may re- 
fuse to finish a public building and thereby keep 
a few thousands in the Treasury, but the work is 
needed and must some time be executed. You 
have simply postponed payment. There Is no 
economy in that. You may cut down your appro- 
priation bills several millions, but you risk a seri- 
ous injury to the public service which you have 
no rigat to incur. You may stop public improve- 
ments, a^seharge mechanics and laborers, shut up 
factories and workshops engaged on public works 
and may call this economy, but it is not economy 
You have set an example for those who have 
money and ought to spend it to withhold expend!- 
tures, shut down on labor, and thus you have con- 



4.1 . ^ "'^ ?-,^-*«, i.ii »La,f^iicitiou vi L>usiaess IJr 

chis economy? You may call it economy, but the 
people next November will call it by Its right 

name, political stupidity. ^ 

<lnd''f"?,■'t'^'lr;l'"i'^f "^"^ ^^^ ^^^ °f ^^« overworked 
andlaithiul letter-carriers, who servo the people 

n^Ji^''/i^,-''"l^'^''"'lSb sunshine and storm, ex! 
po^ed to tne fierce heat of summer and the ex- 
treme cold of winter, but this is not economy: it Is 
legalized injustice, and will be so regarded when 
the people come to render their verdict 

You may reduce salaries established when De- 
wh^^'^^^iT"^ in power, and then none too largo, 
when gold was the currency of the land, and when 
every article entering into household co-isamptioE 
was cheaper than now; but this is not economy 
It is simply parsimony uncalled for by any exl! 
goncy ot the times, and indefeasible on any 
grounds except those ol partisan warfare. 
„,>,"!* ^^7 ^a-p a few thousand* of dollars by 
withdrawing the fast mails, and might appear to 
save more by returning to the old st^e-co^h sys 
tern 01 transportation, but you crlppfe the posta' 
service and entail a loss direct and Indirlct oi 

nnfi7« w'i''°®?? ™^° ^^"^ ^''^»^'' <l'^i«^ dispatch 
ancl to whom the very earliest Information hla be- 
come a vital necessity. You may call this economy, 
and may argue on this floor that it is, but when 
you return to your constituents you will discover 
that you have eommitted a blunder tha,t cannot 

nLt^^H^^*^ ""^ justified on any grounds of public 
QCwCSSity, 

mJ^'i.o<f°K°°?'y eonsnlts public Interests, and 
may often be found in the increase rather than in 
the diminution of public expenditures. By ri- 
l'inJ?£ *° appropriate sufficient money for the 
?,^=Efi^ t^^° **^ °"i °*^y y^rds, arsenals, mints, 
custom-houses and other public buildip-» that 
constantly need to be watched and repairlid. you 
actually waste the public funds,for you entail upon 
subsequent years expenditures that would be un- 
necessary if a proper sum had been appropriated 
to care for and properly guard the property of the 
whI^''?°'«''V "^^^ '''''°' ^lio fails to Slop a leak 
?^i-.t M f n * *®S^ '^ ""^y discover when too lats 



it IS not economy to refuse sutScient approprla- 
t ons for the rivers and harbors scattered ail over 
this broad land which can easily be made navio-a- 
by a reasonable expenditure, unless in rh« 
samobiU you Incorporate useless and reckless ex- 
penditures on "creeks that will not swim a duck " 
and where the engineers report that the first thine 
necessary is a steam-pump to pump up the water 
to start a river. And yet this Is the character of 
economy we have seen practiced In this House 
where the Democratic party is in power. I do not 
claim that Republican legislation is perfect, that 
errors have not been committed; but I do claim 
that It stands ready to punish its dishonest offl. 
cials correct Its errors, and that the American 
people can with far more confidence intrust the 
administration of this CJ-overnment in its hands 
than to turn it over to Democracy. 

Again, we are told that reform'ls necessary In 
Lhe civil service, and are further informed that— 

^"?^P®J's"je proves that efficient economical con- 
duct of the Governmental business is not posgl- 
bleif Its civil service be subject to change at every 
election, be a prize fought for at the ballot-box. 
be a brief reward of party zeal instead of a post of 
honor assigned for proved competencj-, and held 
for fidelity in th« public employ." 

Does Democracy practice what itherepreacheit 
Can it be claimed that the Republica.n officials, 
many of them wounded ex- Federal soldiers, who 
were removed by the majority of this House, were 
less efficient than the Democrats who were ap. 
pointed to their places? If they were as efficient 
why were they removed? Everybodv knows they 
were removed because they were Republicans. 
Had they been Democrats they would have been 
retained. I refer to the radical changes made iS' 



16 



the employees of this House since Democracy coii- 
trolled it simply to show that the Democratic 
Solons of St. Louis differ very widely from the 
Democratic Solomons here assembled, or St. 
Liouis was insincoro in its x>retensions. 1 prefer to 
beliers the latter, for a close observation has con- 
vinced me that Democracy is about the same 
every\vl;ere; it believes in Democracy, it sur- 
rounds itself v/ith Democracy, it makes war on 
anything- or everything that appears hostile to 
Democracy. 

If officers should bo held by men as a reward 
for competency, as a post ol honor for fidelity In 
the public emiiloy,;why did the offlctal axe decapi- 
tate men of triod ability and known integrity in 
this House? Why was it used so fiercely when 
Tilden repla-sed John A. Dix, and swept the State 
ofNew York of Republican officials? Why Is It 
that in every State, county, town, or eity, where 
Democracy controls the appointments, that none 
but Democrats are found in office? The answer is 
plain. It is simply because it is the policy of the 
party to surround "itself by its friends; and in the 
iull glare of this policy the reform alluded to 
la the St. LiOuis platform seems to be much out of 
place as a prayer-meeting would be in Tammany 
Hall. Again, allow me to exclaim, "Humbug, thy 
name is Democratic Reform." 

There mav be abuses which have crept Into the 
Civil Service, but these can b e corrected without 
destroying the jiarty that has built up a civil ser- 
vice which is as honorable and as efficient as any 
{ft the world, To say that "the first step in re- 
form must be the people's choice of honest men 
froro another party," is to say that the only way 
t-? tiop a leak is to destroy the ship and build 
•aorher; or, to make an illustration more appli- 
eab'ie, to destroy a vessel that is known to be 
staunch and sea-worthy and to replace it with one 
that is believed to be worm-eaten below the water- 
line and badly damaged above, and likely to go 
to pieces with the first blast of the elements. 

Yes, reform is necessary, and always will be 
until t!:e end of time; but how is It to be brought 
about .' Our plan is to select the very best men in 
the Rcriublican party, point out where reform is 
needed^ and let them do the work, and bring to 
Bwift unti certain punislunent all dishonest of- 
flchils. What is the Democratic plan? We have 
it annoar.ced in tlie platform. "Reform can only 
toe had," says this oracular piece of timber, "by a 
peaceful, civil revolution." Ominous words. The 
last attempt of a large portion of this same party 
at revolution was not "peaceful," though that 
promised in the beginning it would be. It failed ; 
and now the same portion is to try the virtues of a 
peaceful revolution. Will it succeed? First let 
ias ask, should it? Is there anything In the pres- 
ent couUtion of public afl'alrs that would justify a 
revolution of any kind, peaceful or otherwise? 

Our national policy Is a good one. Our foreign 
relations ;i re satisfactory. Wo are In the enjoy- 
ment oi peace abroad and, with the exception of our 
Indian troubles, peace at home. Democracy asks 
:ifor support on the grounds that it has accepted 



the results of the war and the amendments of the 
Constitution as binding. If this is so, why thft 
necessity of a revolution to Taring out reforWf 
when every measure of the Republican party is | 
exact accord with the changed condition incidol 
to these results and amendments? What is til 
meaning of revolution? It is something more than 
a change for the better, it is a complete over- 
throw of existing affairs, and whether it comes ic 
the shape of politics or war, it leaves In its track 
a desolation that can only be justified by the plea 
that it was the last resort of an oppressed people. 
Webster says, in defining the term, "a rcvolvlion 
In politics is the consummation of a rebeUioa or 
revolt against the established or existing gov- 
ernment." Is this "peaceful revolution" which 
the Democratic platform tells us is the only means 
whereby reform can be brought about "the con- 
summation of a rebellion or revolt against the es- 
tablished or existing government?" If it is, then 
Indeed the people should be informed of its char- 
acter, and forewarned that its object is to secure 
by peaceful revolution what an armed rebellion 
failed to secure by the sword. If it is to be a re- 
volt against the established Government, under 
the cover «f politics, who that loves his country 
can hesitate in deciding on which side he belongs?) 
If the price to be paid for democratic reform i£ 
revolution, even though it be peacetul, the peopl<| 
will have none of it, but will reject it as they die 
the reform which was proclaimed in the bugle 
blasts of war and in the tread of migl ty column 
armed to enforce it. 

Revolution is distasteful In any form to the' 
American people. Whether peaceful or warlike 
they will accept It only as a last resort. That 
contingency has not yet arrived, nor will it as;iong 
as patriotism and loyalty remain in power. I 
have an abiding faith in the good sense of the ma- 
jority, and I Icel assured that whatever reform is 
to be brought about will be Inaugurated bv the 
party that hns defended the nation in its hour of 
trial and guided it with unparalleled wisdom 
through eleven years of peace. 

The voice of the people will be heard in Novem- 
ber through the ballot-box, not calling democracy 
into power, but in a full, hearty Indorsement oi 
the republican party and the patriotic work that 
it has performed. The ballot has not yet failed 
us, and never will as long as patriotism, loyalty, 
and integrity are ruling elements in the land. On 
the ballot we rely for the vindication of our work 
and the purity of our motives. It is the true re- 
former Itiat brings about Improvement without 
revolution and corrects all wrongs without excit- 
ing rebellion or revolt. When its voice, denounc- 
ing democracy and sham reform, shall be heard, 
the revoIutionist.<5 of the land will be forced te 
acknowledge that — 

There is a weapon sure- yet 

And stronger than the bii.yonct ; 

A weapon that comes down as still 
As suow-flakes fall upon the sod : 

But executes a fi-eeman's will 
As lighting does the will of God. 



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